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Completed

NCT Number: NCT03125330

The Impact of Professional Coaching on Early Career Academic Emergency Physicians

This research study is designed to answer the question: How does professional coaching impact early career academic emergency medicine physician goal attainment, leadership strengths, well-being, and burnout?

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Key information

Conditions

Development, Human Anxiety Anxiety Disorders Behavior Behavioral Symptoms Burnout, Professional Burnout, Psychological Goals Leadership Mental Disorders Occupational Diseases Occupational Stress Physician's Role Professional Burnout Professional Role Stress Stress, Psychological Well-Being

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Mayo Clinic in Rochester

Rochester, Minnesota, 55905, United States

About this study

A recent systematic review and meta-analysis found coaching to have significant positive effects on goal attainment, well-being, coping skills, work attitudes, and goal-directed self-regulation. Randomized controlled studies of professional coaching have found significant positive effects in various settings including high school teachers and students, postgraduate students in a major university, and executives in the commercial, government, and education sectors.

Coaching provides the participant focused time with a trained professional who facilitates that participant's self-determined and self-directed problem-solving and change. Coaching helps the participant "get on the balcony" away from the action on the "dance floor" to see things from a different and broader perspective and, in doing so, enriches the participant's ability to generate options, challenge biases, understand the effects of emotions, and consider uncertainty.

This study also establishes the level of adult development of academic faculty and creates an initial qualitative dataset for further longitudinal study and theory generation for physician well-being, burnout, leadership strengths, and goal attainment.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion:

  • Emergency physicians
  • Academic appointment of Instructor or Assistant Professor
  • Work greater than 80% of their time in a residency and fellowship program approved by the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), the American Osteopathic Association (AOA), or the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC) will be invited to participate in the study.

Exclusion:

  • Mayo Clinic emergency physicians are not eligible for this study.

Treatment and study plan

Professional Coaching

Behavioral

Professional coaching is provided by the Principal Investigator via video conference.

Other names: Coaching

Primary outcomes

  1. Goal Setting and Attainment

    Time frame: 18 months (3 measurements at 6-month intervals)

    Each participant identifies two professional goals at study onset. For each of the goals, participants respond to the question, "Up to today, how successful have you been in achieving this goal?" and rate their goal attainment on a scale from 0% (no attainment) to 100% (complete attainment). To control for differences between participants in perceived goal attainment difficulty, participants also will rate each goal for perceived difficulty on a 4-point scale ( 1=very easy, 2=somewhat easy, 3=somewhat difficult, 4=very difficult). Goal attainment scores are calculated by multiplying the difficulty rating by the degree of success.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Psychological Well-Being Scale

    Time frame: 18 months (3 measurements at 6-month intervals)

    An 18-item survey that measures eudaemonic well-being.

  2. Empowerment at Work Scale

    Time frame: 18 months (3 measurements at 6-month intervals)

    A 12-item survey that measures a physician's sense of meaning, competence, self-determination, and impact while at work.

  3. Abbreviated Two-Item Maslach Burnout Inventory

    Time frame: 18 months (3 measurements at 6-month intervals)

    A two-item survey that measures participant burnout.

  4. Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS 21)

    Time frame: 18 months (3 measurements at 6-month intervals)

    A 21-item self-report questionnaire designed to measure the severity of the core symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress in both clinical and nonclinical scenarios.

  5. Leadership Self-Efficacy Scale

    Time frame: 18 months (3 measurements at 6-month intervals)

    A 5-item scale of leadership self-efficacy.

  6. Self-Insight Scale

    Time frame: 18 months (3 measurements at 6-month intervals)

    An 8-item sub-scale of the Self-reflection and Insight Scale. This scale measures individuals' levels of insight into their thoughts, feelings and behaviors.

  7. Solution-Focused Thinking Scale

    Time frame: 18 months (3 measurements at 6-month intervals)

    A 12-item scale with three subscales: Problem Disengagement, Goal Orientation, and Resource Activation.

  8. Tolerance for Ambiguity Scale

    Time frame: 18 months (3 measurements at 6-month intervals)

    An eight-item assessment that measures tolerance for ambiguity.

  9. Perspective Taking Scale

    Time frame: 18 months (3 measurements at 6-month intervals)

    A 7-item subscale of The Empathy Questionnaire that measures perspective-taking.

  10. Qualitative Summary of Coaching Program

    Time frame: After 6-month coaching intervention. 18 months

    An open-ended interview covering issues such as 1) participant's experience with the coaching process and coach; 2) participant goals; 3) impact on the participant's workplace; 4) impact on participant's personal life; and 5) what the participant plans to do to sustain any changes or learnings.

  11. Subject-Object Interview

    Time frame: 18 months

    A one-time 60 to 75-minute private interview that measures the particpant's order of subject-object development based upon constructive-developmental theory.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Mayo Clinic

Other

Registry information

Official study title

The Impact of Professional Coaching on Early Career Academic Emergency Physician Well-Being, Burnout, Leadership Strengths, and Goal Attainment: A Pilot Randomized, Controlled Trial

Important dates

Study start
2017
Primary completion
2020
Study completion
2020
First posted
Apr 24, 2017
Registry last updated
Jan 6, 2021

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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